The Rudolf Steiner Archive

Some of the Effects of Initiation

[ 1 ] It is one of the principles of true secret science that those who dedicate themselves to it do so with full awareness. He should not undertake or practise anything that he does not know what effect it will have. A secret teacher who gives advice or instruction to someone will always say at the same time what will happen to the body, soul or spirit of the one who strives for higher knowledge by following it.

[ 2 ] Here are some of the effects on the soul of the secret disciple. Only he who knows such things as they are communicated here can undertake in full consciousness the exercises which lead to the knowledge of supersensible worlds. And only such a person is a true student of the secret. All groping in the dark is strictly frowned upon in real secret training. Those who do not want to complete their training with their eyes open may become mediums; they cannot become clairvoyants in the sense of secret science.

[ 3 ] For those who perform the exercises described in the previous sections (on the acquisition of psychic knowledge), certain changes first take place in the so-called soul organism. This can only be perceived by the clairvoyant. It can be compared to a more or less spiritually-spiritually luminous cloud, in the middle of which is the physical body of the human being.^{1A description can be found in the author's "Theosophy"} The drives, desires, passions, ideas and so on become spiritually visible in this organism. Sensual desire, for example, is felt in it like dark reddish radiations of a certain form. A pure, noble thought finds its expression as in a reddish-purple radiance. The sharp concept that the logical thinker grasps feels like a yellowish figure with very definite outlines. The confused thought of the unclear head appears as a figure with indeterminate outlines. The thoughts of people with one-sided, stubborn views appear sharp, immovable in their outlines, those of such personalities who are accessible to the views of others are seen in moving, changing outlines, and so on, and so on.^{2In all the following descriptions, one must pay attention to the fact that, for example, when "seeing" a colorspiritual seeing (looking) is meant. When clairvoyant insight says: "I see red" this means: "I have an experience in the soul-spiritual which is equal to the physical experience of the impression of the red color." This expression is only used because it is quite natural for clairvoyant cognition to say: "I see red". Anyone who does not consider this can easily confuse a color vision with a truly clairvoyant experience.}

[ 4 ] The further a person progresses in his soul development, the more regularly structured his soul organism becomes. In a person with an undeveloped soul life, it is confused, unstructured. But even in such an unstructured soul organism, the clairvoyant can perceive a structure that stands out clearly from its surroundings. It runs from the inside of the head to the center of the physical body. It looks like a kind of independent body which has certain organs. The organs that will be discussed here first are spiritually perceived in the vicinity of the following physical body parts: the first between the eyes, the second near the larynx, the third in the region of the heart, the fourth lies in the neighborhood of the so-called pit of the stomach, the fifth and sixth have their seat in the lower body. These formations are called "wheels" (chakrams) or "lotus flowers" by those in the know. They are so called because of their resemblance to wheels or flowers; but of course one must realize that such an expression is not much more accurate than calling the two parts of the lungs "lungs". Just as it is clear here that we are not dealing with "wings", we must also think of a comparable designation there. Now these "lotus flowers" in the undeveloped human being are of dark colors and calm, motionless. In the clairvoyant, however, they are in motion and of bright shades of color. Something similar is also the case with the medium, but in a different way. We will not go into this in detail here. - Now when a secret disciple begins his exercises, the first thing that happens is that the lotus flowers brighten; later they begin to turn. When the latter occurs, the ability to see heli begins. For these "flowers" are the sensory organs of the soul.^{3What has been said in the previous note about "seeing colors" also applies to these perceptions of "turning", indeed of the "lotus flowers" themselves.} And their turning is the expression of perception in the supersensible. No one can see anything supersensible until his astral senses have developed in this way.

[ 5 ] The spiritual sense organ, which is located near the larynx, makes it possible to clairvoyantly see through the type of thought of another soul being; it also allows a deeper insight into the true laws of natural phenomena. - The organ in the vicinity of the heart opens up a clairvoyant insight into the mindset of other souls. Those who have developed it can also recognize certain deeper forces in animals and plants. Through the sense near the so-called pit of the stomach, one gains knowledge of the capabilities and talents of souls; one can see through what role animals, plants, stones, metals, atmospheric phenomena and so on play in the household of nature.

[ 6 ] The organ near the larynx has sixteen "petals" or "wheel spokes", the one near the heart has twelve, and the one near the pit of the stomach has ten.

[ 7 ] Now certain mental functions are connected with the development of these sense organs. And whoever performs these activities in a very specific way contributes something to the development of the relevant spiritual sense organs. Eight leaves of the "sixteen-petaled lotus flower" were already formed at an earlier stage of human development in the distant past. Man himself contributed nothing to this formation. He received them as a gift of nature when he was still in a state of dreamlike, dull consciousness. At that stage of human development they were also active. However, this kind of activity was only compatible with that dull state of consciousness. When the consciousness brightened, the leaves darkened and ceased their activity. The other eight can be developed by man himself through conscious practice. This makes the whole lotus flower luminous and flexible. The acquisition of certain abilities depends on the development of each of the sixteen petals. But, as already indicated, man can only develop eight of them consciously; the other eight then appear of their own accord.

[ 8 ] The development proceeds in the following way. Man must give attention and care to certain processes of the soul which he usually carries out carelessly and inattentively. There are eight such processes. The first is the way of acquiring ideas. In this respect man usually leaves himself entirely to chance. He hears this and that, sees one thing and another, and forms his concepts accordingly. As long as he proceeds in this way, his sixteen-petaled lotus flower remains quite ineffective. Only when he takes charge of his self-education in this direction does it begin to become effective. For this purpose he must pay attention to his ideas. Every idea should gain meaning for him. He should see in it a certain message, a message about things in the outside world. And he should not be satisfied by ideas that do not have such a meaning. He should direct his whole conceptual life in such a way that it becomes a faithful mirror of the outside world. He should strive to remove incorrect ideas from his soul. - The second soul process concerns man's decisions in a similar direction. He should only decide on the most insignificant things out of well-founded, full consideration. He should keep away from his soul all thoughtless action, all meaningless activity. He should have well-considered reasons for everything. And he should refrain from doing what no important reason urges him to do. - The third process relates to speech. Only what has meaning and significance should come from the lips of the secret disciple. All talking for the sake of talking leads him astray. The secret disciple should avoid the usual kind of conversation, where everything is talked about randomly and colorfully. But he should not exclude himself from intercourse with his fellow men. It is precisely in conversation that his speech should develop into meaningfulness. He answers everyone's questions, but he does so thoughtfully, considering every direction. He never speaks without reason. He does not try to say too much or too little. - The fourth soul process is the regulation of external action. The secret disciple tries to arrange his actions in such a way that they harmonize with the actions of his fellow human beings and the events of his environment. He refrains from actions which are disturbing to others or which contradict what is going on around him. He tries to arrange his actions in such a way that they fit harmoniously into his surroundings, his situation in life and so on. Where he is prompted to act by something else, he carefully observes how he can best respond to the prompting. Where he acts of his own accord, he considers the effects of his action most clearly. - The fifth thing to be considered here lies in the organization of the whole life. The secret disciple tries to live in accordance with nature and the spirit. He does not rush into anything and is not indolent. He is equally distant from busyness and laxity. He sees life as a means of work and arranges himself accordingly. He arranges his health care, habits and so on in such a way that a harmonious life is the result. - The sixth concerns human endeavor. The secret disciple examines his abilities, his skills and behaves in the sense of such self-knowledge. He tries to do nothing that lies outside his powers, but also to refrain from doing anything that lies within them. On the other hand, he sets himself goals that are connected with the ideals, with the great duties of a human being. He does not merely insert himself thoughtlessly as a wheel in the human engine, but seeks to understand his tasks, to look beyond the everyday. He strives to make his duties ever better and more perfect. - The seventh aspect of his spiritual life concerns his striving to learn as much as possible from life. Nothing passes the secret disciple by that does not give him an opportunity to gain experience that is useful to him in life. If he has done something incorrectly and imperfectly, this becomes an opportunity to do something similar correctly or perfectly later on. If he sees others acting, he observes them to a similar end. He tries to gather a wealth of experience and always consult it carefully. And he does nothing without looking back on experiences that can help him in his decisions and actions. - Finally, the eighth is: the secret disciple must from time to time look into his inner self; he must immerse himself in himself, carefully consult with himself, form and examine his principles of life, go through his knowledge in thought, consider his duties, reflect on the content and purpose of life, and so on. All these things have already been discussed in the previous sections. They are only listed here with regard to the development of the sixteen-petaled lotus flower. By practicing them, it becomes more and more perfect. For the development of the gift of clairvoyance depends on such exercises. For example, the more a person's thoughts and words coincide with events in the outside world, the faster this gift will develop. Whoever thinks or speaks untruthful things kills something in the seed of the sixteen-petaled lotus flower. In this respect, truthfulness, sincerity and honesty are constructive forces; falsehood, dishonesty and dishonesty are destructive forces. And the secret disciple must know that it is not only the "good intention" that is important here, but the actual deed. If I think and say something that does not correspond to reality, I am destroying something in my spiritual sense organ, even if I believe I have a good intention. It is like a child that burns itself when it reaches into the fire, even if this happens out of ignorance. - The arrangement of the soul processes in the direction described above makes the sixteen-petalled lotus flower glow in glorious colors and gives it a lawful movement. - It should be noted, however, that the characterized clairvoyance cannot appear before a certain degree of training of the soul has been attained. As long as it is still difficult to lead life in this direction, this gift will not manifest itself. As long as one still has to pay special attention to the processes described, one is not mature. Only when one has come so far that one lives in the indicated manner, as man otherwise habitually does, do the first traces of clairvoyance appear. Things must then no longer be laborious, but must have become a natural way of life. There must be no need to constantly observe oneself, to urge oneself to live like this. Everything must have become a habit. - There are certain instructions that make the sixteen-petaled lotus flower unfold in a different way. The true secret science rejects all such instructions. For they lead to the destruction of bodily health and to moral ruin. They are easier to carry out than what has been described. This is tedious and laborious. But it leads to a sure goal and can only strengthen morally.

[ 9 ] The distorted training of a lotus flower results not only in illusions and fantastic ideas in the case of the appearance of a certain clairvoyant gift, but also in aberrations and unsteadiness in ordinary life. One can become fearful, envious, vain, arrogant, self-willed and so on through such training, whereas before one had none of these qualities. - It has been said that eight of the petals of the sixteen-petaled lotus flower were already developed in the distant past and that they reappear by themselves in secret training. All care must now be given to the eight other petals in the endeavors of the secret disciple. If the training is wrong, the earlier developed ones will easily appear alone and the new ones to be formed will remain atrophied. This will especially be the case if too little attention is paid to logical, rational thinking during training. It is of the utmost importance that the secret disciple is an intelligent person who thinks clearly. And it is of further importance that he should make an effort to speak with the greatest clarity. People who begin to suspect something of the supersensible like to talk about these things. In this way they arrest their proper development. The less one talks about these things, the better it is. Only those who have reached a certain degree of clarity should talk.

[ 10 ] At the beginning of the lesson, secret students are usually amazed at how little "curiosity" the already spiritually trained person has towards the communication of their experiences. It would be most beneficial for them if they were to remain completely silent about their experiences and discuss nothing more than how well or how badly they succeed in carrying out their exercises or following the instructions. For those who are already spiritually trained have completely different sources for assessing their progress than their direct reports. The eight leaves of the sixteen-petaled lotus flower in question are always somewhat hardened by such messages, whereas they should be kept soft and pliable. An example will be given to illustrate this. Let this be taken not from the supernatural, but for the sake of clarity from ordinary life. Suppose I hear a message and immediately form a judgment about it. A short time later I receive another message about the same thing which does not correspond to the first. This forces me to change the judgment I have already formed. The consequence of this is an unfavorable influence on my sixteen-petalled lotus flower. The situation would be quite different if I had initially been cautious with my judgment, if I had remained "silent" about the whole matter inwardly in my thoughts and outwardly in my words until I had completely reliable evidence for my judgment. Caution in forming and expressing judgments gradually becomes a special characteristic of the secret disciple. On the other hand, his receptivity to impressions and experiences grows, which he silently lets pass him by in order to create as many points of reference as possible when he has to judge. There are bluish-reddish and rose-red nuances in the lotus petals that appear through such caution, while in the other case dark red and orange-colored nuances appear. In a similar way to the sixteen-petalled ^{4The knowledgeable person will recognize in the conditions for the development of the "sixteen-petalled lotus flower" the instructions that the Buddha gave his disciples for the "path". However, it is not a question here of teaching "Buddhism", but of describing the conditions for development that arise from spiritual science itself. The fact that they agree with certain teachings of the Buddha cannot prevent us from finding them to be true in themselves.} The twelve-petaled lotus flower, near the heart, is also depicted. Half of its petals were already present and active in a past state of human development. These six petals therefore do not need to be specially formed during the secret training; they appear of their own accord and begin to turn when work is done on the other six. - Again, in order to promote this development, the human being must consciously give certain soul activities a certain direction.

[ 11 ] It must now be made clear that the perceptions of the individual spiritual or soul senses have a different character. The lotus flower with twelve petals conveys a different perception than the sixteen-petaled one. The latter perceives forms. The type of thought that a soul has, the laws according to which a natural phenomenon takes place, appear in forms for the sixteen-petaled lotus flower. However, these are not rigid, still shapes, but moving forms filled with life. The clairvoyant who has developed this sense can name a form for every kind of thought, for every law of nature, in which they are expressed. A thought of revenge, for example, is clothed in an arrow-like, jagged figure, a benevolent thought often has the shape of an opening flower and so on. Certain, meaningful thoughts are regular, symmetrical, while unclear concepts have curly outlines. - Quite different perceptions emerge through the twelve-petaled lotus flower. The nature of these perceptions can be roughly characterized by describing them as soul warmth and soul coldness. A clairvoyant endowed with this sense feels such soul warmth or soul coldness emanating from the figures he perceives through the sixteen-petaled lotus flower. Imagine if a clairvoyant had only developed the sixteen-petaled lotus flower, but not the twelve-petaled lotus flower. Then he would only see the figure described above when having a benevolent thought. Another, who has developed both senses, also notices the emanation of this thought, which can only be described as warmth of soul. - It should only be noted in passing that in the secret training one sense is never developed without the other, so that the above is only to be regarded as an assumption for clarification. - Through the training of the twelve-petaled lotus flower, the clairvoyant also gains a deep understanding of natural processes. Everything that is based on growth and development exudes warmth of soul; everything that is in the process of decay, destruction and decline appears with the character of coldness of soul.

[ 12 ] The development of this sense is promoted in the following way. The first thing that the secret disciple observes in this respect is the regulation of his train of thought (the so-called thought control). Just as the sixteen-petaled lotus flower comes to development through true meaningful thoughts, so the twelve-petaled lotus flower comes to development through inner control of the course of thought. Misleading thoughts that are not put together in a meaningful, logical way, but purely by chance, spoil the shape of this lotus flower. The more one thought follows from another, the more everything illogical is avoided, the more this sense organ takes on the form that corresponds to it. If the secret disciple hears illogical thoughts, he immediately lets the right one pass through his mind. He should not lovelessly withdraw from a perhaps illogical environment in order to further his development. Nor should he feel the urge to immediately correct everything illogical in his surroundings. Rather, he will quietly bring the thoughts rushing at him from outside into a logical, meaningful direction. And he endeavors to keep to this direction everywhere in his own thoughts. - The second is to bring the same consistency into his actions (control of actions). Any inconsistency or disharmony in action will be the lotus flower's undoing. When the secret disciple has done something, he arranges his subsequent actions so that they follow logically from the first. Whoever acts today in a different sense than yesterday will never develop the characterized sense. - The third is the education of perseverance. The secret disciple will not allow this or that influence to divert him from a goal he has set for himself, as long as he can regard this goal as a correct one. Obstacles are an invitation for him to overcome them, but not a reason to stop. - The fourth is forbearance (tolerance) towards people, other beings and also facts. The secret disciple suppresses all superfluous criticism of the imperfect, evil and bad and instead seeks to understand everything that approaches him. Just as the sun does not withdraw its light from the bad and evil, so he does not withdraw his understanding sympathy. If the secret disciple encounters any adversity, he does not indulge in disparaging judgments, but accepts what is necessary and tries, as far as his strength allows, to turn the matter to the good. He does not merely consider other opinions from his own point of view, but tries to put himself in the other person's shoes. - The fifth is impartiality towards the phenomena of life. In this respect, one also speaks of "faith" or "trust". The secret disciple approaches every person, every being with this trust. And he fills himself with such trust in his actions. He never says to himself when he is told something: I don't believe it because it contradicts my previous opinion. Rather, he is ready at any moment to test his opinion and view against a new one and to correct it. He always remains receptive to everything that comes to him. And he trusts in the effectiveness of what he undertakes. He banishes timidity and doubtfulness from his nature. If he has an intention, he also has faith in the power of this intention. A hundred failures cannot take this faith away from him. This is the "faith that can move mountains". - The sixth is the acquisition of a certain balance in life (equanimity). The secret disciple strives to maintain an even mood, whether suffering or joy strikes him. He gets out of the habit of wavering between "rejoicing in heaven and sorrowing to death". He is just as prepared for misfortune and danger as he is for good fortune and promotion.

[ 13 ] Readers of spiritual-scientific writings will find what has been described listed as the so-called "six qualities" which must be developed by those who strive for initiation. Their connection with the spiritual sense, which is called the twelve-petaled lotus flower, should be explained here. - The secret training can again give special instructions to bring this lotus flower to maturity, but here too the formation of the regular form of this sense organ depends on the development of the qualities listed. If this development is disregarded, then this organ becomes distorted. And if a certain gift of clairvoyance is developed in this direction, the qualities mentioned can turn to the worse instead of the good. A person can become particularly intolerant, timid and hostile towards his surroundings. For example, he may become sensitive to the attitudes of other souls and therefore flee or hate them. It can come to the point that he cannot listen at all or behaves in a repulsive manner because of the coldness of soul that overflows him with views that are repugnant to him.

[ 14 ] If, in addition to all the above, certain instructions are observed, which secret disciples can only receive verbally from secret teachers, the development of the lotus flower is accelerated accordingly. Thus, the instructions given here are an introduction to real secret training. However, it is also useful for those who do not want to or cannot undergo a secret training to organize their life in the direction given here. This is because the effect on the soul organist will occur in any case, albeit slowly. And it is essential for the secret disciple to observe these principles. - If he were to attempt a secret training without observing them, he could only enter the higher worlds with a deficient mind's eye; and instead of recognizing the truth, he would then only be subject to deceptions and illusions. He would become clairvoyant in a certain respect; but basically he would only be subject to greater blindness than before. For formerly he at least stood firm within the sense world and had a certain hold on it; but now he sees beyond the sense world and goes astray before he stands securely in a higher world. He may then no longer be able to distinguish truth from error and lose all direction in life. -It is precisely for this reason that patience is so necessary in these matters. One must always bear in mind that spiritual science may go no further with its instructions than there is full willingness for a regulated development of the "lotus flowers". True distorted images of these flowers would develop if they were brought to ripeness before they had calmly attained the form to which they are entitled. For the special instructions of spiritual science bring about the maturity, but the form is given to them by the way of life described.

[ 15 ] The cultivation of the soul, which is necessary for the development of the ten-petaled lotus flower, is of a particularly subtle nature. For here it is a matter of learning to master the sensory impressions themselves in a conscious manner. This is particularly necessary for the budding clairvoyant. Only in this way can he avoid a source of countless illusions and mental arbitrariness. Man does not usually realize what things dominate his ideas and memories and what causes them. Suppose the following case. Someone is traveling on a train. He is preoccupied with a thought. Suddenly his thought takes a completely different turn. He remembers an experience he had years ago and connects it with his present thoughts. But now he has not even noticed that his eye was directed out of the window and that his gaze was fixed on a person who resembled another who was involved in the remembered experience. He does not realize what he has seen, but only the effect. Thus he believes that the thing "occurred to him of its own accord". How many things in life do not come about in this way. How do things that we have experienced and read play into our lives without us realizing the connection? For example, someone dislikes a certain color, but does not know that this is because the teacher who tormented him many years ago had a skirt in that color. Countless illusions are based on such connections. Many things imprint themselves on the soul without being incorporated into the consciousness. The following case can occur. Someone reads in the newspaper about the death of a well-known person. And now he firmly claims that he had already foreseen this death "yesterday", although he had heard and seen nothing that could have given him this idea. And it is true that the thought occurred to him "yesterday" as if "of its own accord": the person in question was going to die. There was only one thing he didn't consider. A few hours before the thought occurred to him "yesterday", he was visiting an acquaintance. There was a newspaper on the table. He didn't read it. But unconsciously his eye fell on the news of the serious illness of the person in question. He was not aware of the impression. But the effect was a "hunch". - If you think about such things, you can appreciate what a source of illusions and fantasies lies in such circumstances. And this source must be blocked by those who want to develop their ten-petaled lotus flower. For through this lotus flower one can perceive deeply hidden qualities in souls. But truth can only be attributed to these perceptions when one has become completely free of the marked deceptions. For this purpose it is necessary to make oneself master of what the outside world influences. One must make it so that impressions which one does not want to receive, one really does not receive. Such an ability can only be developed through a strong inner life. One must get it into one's will that one allows only those things to affect oneself to which one turns one's attention, and that one really withdraws from impressions to which one does not turn arbitrarily. What one sees, one must want to see, and what one does not turn one's attention to must actually not be there for one. The more lively and energetic the inner work of the soul becomes, the more this will be achieved. - The secret disciple must avoid all thoughtless looking and listening. For him there should only be what he directs his ear and eye to. He must practise that in the greatest turmoil he does not need to hear anything if he does not want to hear; he should make his eye insensitive to things he is not particularly looking at. He must be surrounded as with a mental armor for all unconscious impressions. - He must pay particular attention to the life of thought itself in this direction. He sets himself a thought, and he tries to think only what he can consciously, in complete freedom, attach to this thought. He rejects arbitrary ideas. If he wants to relate the thought to any other, he carefully considers where this other has come to him. - He goes even further. If, for example, he has a certain antipathy towards something, he fights it and tries to establish a conscious relationship to the thing in question. In this way, fewer and fewer unconscious elements interfere with his mental life. Only through such strict self-discipline does the ten-petaled lotus flower attain the form it should have. The soul life of the secret disciple must become a life of attention, and what one does not want to or should not pay attention to, one must really know how to keep away from. - If such self-discipline is accompanied by meditation which corresponds to the instructions of spiritual science, then the lotus flower in the region of the pit of the stomach will ripen in the right way, and that which had only form and warmth through the previously described spiritual sense organs will receive spiritual light and color. And this reveals, for example, the talents and abilities of souls, powers and hidden qualities in nature. The color aura of animate beings becomes visible; that which is around us announces its soul-like qualities. - It will be admitted that the greatest care is necessary in this field of development, for the play of unconscious memories is immeasurably active here. If this were not the case, many people would have the very sense in question here, for it occurs almost immediately when man really has the impressions of his senses so completely under his control that they are only subject to his attention or inattention. It only remains ineffective as long as the power of the external senses keeps this psychic sense muffled and dull.

[ 16 ] More difficult than the formation of the described lotus flower is that of the six-petaled one, which is located in the center of the body. This is because, in order to develop it, the self-consciousness must strive for complete mastery of the whole person, so that body, soul and spirit are in perfect harmony. The activities of the body, the inclinations and passions of the soul, the thoughts and ideas of the spirit must be brought into perfect harmony with one another. The body must be so ennobled and purified that its organs do not urge anything that does not serve the soul and the spirit. The soul should not be pushed by the body towards desires and passions that contradict pure and noble thinking. The spirit, however, should not have to rule over the soul like a slave master with its compulsory commandments and laws; instead, the soul should follow the duties and commandments out of its own free inclination. Duty should not hover over the secret disciple like something to which he reluctantly submits, but like something he performs because he loves it. The secret disciple must develop a free soul that is in balance between sensuality and spirituality. He must bring himself to the point where he can abandon himself to his sensuality, because it is so purified that it has lost the power to draw him down to itself. He should no longer need to restrain his passions because they will follow the right course of their own accord. As long as man needs to mortify himself, he cannot be a secret disciple on a certain level. A virtue to which one must first force oneself is still worthless for secret discipleship. As long as one still has a desire, it disturbs the student body, even if one tries not to indulge it. And it makes no difference whether this desire belongs more to the body or more to the soul. For example, if someone avoids a certain stimulant in order to purify himself by depriving himself of the pleasure, this will only help him if his body does not suffer any discomfort as a result of this abstention. If the latter is the case, it shows that the body desires the stimulant, and the abstention is worthless. In this case, it may well be that the person must first renounce the desired goal and wait until more favorable sensual conditions are available to him - perhaps only in another life. In a certain situation, a sensible renunciation is a much greater achievement than striving for something that cannot be achieved under the given circumstances. Indeed, such a reasonable renunciation promotes development more than the opposite.

[ 17 ] Whoever has developed the six-petaled lotus flower will be able to communicate with beings belonging to the higher worlds, but only if their existence is manifest in the world of the soul. The secret training, however, does not recommend the development of this lotus flower before the disciple has made great progress on the path through which he can raise his spirit to an even higher world. This entry into the actual spiritual world must always accompany the development of the lotus flowers. Otherwise the disciple will fall into confusion and uncertainty. He would indeed learn to see, but he would lack the ability to judge what he sees in the right way. - Now what is required for the training of the six-petaled lotus flower is already a certain guarantee against confusion and unsteadiness. For it will not be easy to bring someone into this confusion who has attained the perfect balance between sensuality (body), passion (soul) and idea (spirit). Nevertheless, even more than this guarantee is necessary when, through the development of the six-petaled lotus flower, beings with life and independence become perceptible to man, which belong to a world that is so completely different from that of his physical senses. In order to have security in these worlds, it is not enough for him to develop the lotus flowers, but he must have still higher organs at his disposal. We shall now speak of the development of these still higher organs; then we can also speak of the other lotus flowers and the other organization of the soul body ^{5It is self-evident that, in the literal sense, the expression "soul body" (like many similar ones in spiritual science) contains a contradiction. But this expression is used because clairvoyant cognition perceives something that is experienced in the spiritual in the same way as the body is perceived in the physical.}

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[ 18 ] The development of the soul body, as just described, makes it possible for man to perceive supersensible phenomena. But if you really want to find your way in this world, you must not stop at this stage of development. The mere mobility of the lotus flowers is not enough. Man must be able to regulate and control the movement of his spiritual organs independently and with full consciousness. Otherwise he would become a plaything of external forces and powers. If he is not to become that, he must acquire the ability to hear the so-called "inner word". In order to achieve this, not only the soul body but also the etheric body must be developed. This is the subtle body that appears to the clairvoyant as a kind of double of the physical body. It is, so to speak, an intermediate stage between this body and the soul body.^{6Compare this description with the description in the author's "Theosophy".} If one is gifted with clairvoyant abilities, then one can, with full consciousness, imagine the physical body of a person standing before one. At a higher level, this is nothing other than an exercise of attention at a lower level. Just as a person can divert his attention from something that is in front of him so that it is not there for him, so the clairvoyant is able to completely obliterate a physical body for his perception so that it becomes completely transparent to him physically. If he accomplishes this with a person standing before him, then the so-called etheric body still remains before his spiritual eye, apart from the soul body, which is greater than both and which also penetrates both. The etheric body has approximately the size and form of the physical body, so that it also fills approximately the same space which the physical body also occupies. It is an extremely delicate and finely organized structure.^{7I ask the physicist not to be offended by the term "etheric body". The word "ather" is only intended to indicate the subtlety of the entity under consideration. What is mentioned here need not be associated with the "Athens" of physical hypotheses.} Its basic color is different from the seven colors contained in the rainbow. Anyone who can observe it gets to know a color that does not actually exist for sensory observation. It can best be compared to the color of a young peach blossom. If one wants to observe the etheric body all by itself, then one must also extinguish the appearance of the soul body for observation through an exercise of attention similar to that described above. If one does not do this, then the sight of the etheric body is changed by the soul body that completely permeates it.

[ 19 ] Now the particles of the etheric body are in constant motion in the human being. Countless currents flow through it in all directions. Life is maintained and regulated by these currents. Every body that lives has such an etheric body. Plants and animals have them too. Indeed, even in minerals, traces are perceptible to the attentive observer. - The currents and movements mentioned are initially completely independent of the will and consciousness of man, just as the activity of the heart or stomach in the physical body is not dependent on the will. - And as long as the human being does not take his education in the sense of acquiring supersensible abilities into his own hands, this independence also remains. For it is precisely in this that the higher development at a certain stage consists, that to the currents and movements of the etheric body, which are independent of consciousness, are added those which the human being consciously brings about himself.

[ 20 ] When the secret vision training has come so far that the lotus flowers marked in the previous sections begin to move, then the disciple has already accomplished much of what leads to the evocation of very specific currents and movements in his etheric body. The purpose of this development is to form a kind of central point in the region of the physical heart, from which currents and movements in the most varied spiritual colors and forms emanate. This center is in reality not a mere point, but a very complicated structure, a wonderful organ. It shines and shimmers spiritually in the most diverse colors and shows forms of great regularity, which can change rapidly. And further forms and color currents run from this organ to the parts of the rest of the body and even beyond it, running through and illuminating the entire soul body. The most important of these currents, however, go to the lotus flowers. They run through the individual petals and regulate their rotation; then they flow outwards at the tips of the petals to lose themselves in outer space. The more developed a person is, the larger the circumference in which these currents spread.

[ 21 ] The twelve-petaled lotus flower has a particularly close relationship to the center described above. The currents flow directly into it. And currents pass through it on one side to the sixteen-petaled and the two-petaled, and on the other (lower) side to the eight-, six- and four-petaled lotus flowers. This arrangement is the reason why special attention must be paid to the formation of the twelve-petaled lotus flower in the secret training. If something were to go wrong here, the whole formation of the apparatus would have to be disorderly. - From what has been said, one can appreciate how delicate and intimate the secret training is and how precisely one must proceed if everything is to develop properly. It is also readily apparent from this that only those can speak about instructions for the training of psychic abilities who have experienced for themselves everything that they are supposed to train in another and who are fully capable of recognizing whether their instructions will lead to the right results.

[ 22 ] When the secret disciple carries out what is prescribed to him by the instructions, he teaches his etheric body such currents and movements which are in harmony with the laws and the development of the world to which the human being belongs. Therefore, the instructions are always a reflection of the great laws of world development. They consist of the above-mentioned and similar meditation and concentration exercises, which, properly applied, have the effects described. The student of the spirit must at certain times permeate his soul completely with the content of the exercises, fill himself inwardly completely with it, as it were. It begins with something simple, which is above all suitable for deepening and internalizing the intelligent and rational thinking of the head. This thinking is thus made free and independent of all sensory impressions and experiences. It is, as it were, summarized in one point, which the human being has completely under his control. This creates a temporary center for the currents of the etheric body. This center is not yet in the region of the heart, but in the head. There it shows itself to the clairvoyant as the starting point of movements. - Only a secret vision training that first creates this center is fully successful. If the center were to be placed in the region of the heart from the very beginning, the budding clairvoyant would be able to gain certain insights into the higher worlds, but he would not be able to gain any real insight into the connection between these higher worlds and our sensory world. And this is an unconditional necessity for man at the present stage of world development. The clairvoyant must not become a gusher; he must keep his feet firmly on the ground.

[ 23 ] The center in the head is then, when it is properly fixed, moved further down, namely to the area of the larynx. This is brought about by the further application of the concentration exercises. Then the characterized movements of the etheric body radiate from this area. They illuminate the soul space around the person.

[ 24 ] Further practice enables the secret disciple to determine the position of his etheric body himself. Previously, this position was dependent on the forces coming from outside and emanating from the physical body. Through further development the human being becomes able to turn the etheric body in all directions. This ability is brought about by currents which run approximately along the two hands and which have their center in the two-petaled lotus flower in the eye region. All this is brought about by the fact that the rays emanating from the larynx form themselves into round shapes, a number of which go to the two-petaled lotus flower and from there take the path along the hands as undulating currents. - A further consequence is that these currents branch out and ramify in the finest way and become a kind of network which, like a retina, forms the boundary of the whole etheric body. Whereas before this had no outward termination, so that the currents of life flowed directly in and out of the general sea of life, now the influences from outside must pass through this skin. As a result, the human being becomes sensitive to these external currents. They become perceptible to him. - Now the time has also come to give the whole current and movement system its center in the region of the heart. This happens again through the continuation of the concentration and meditation exercise. And thus the stage is also reached at which the human being is endowed with the "inner word". All things now take on a new meaning for the person. They become, so to speak, spiritually audible in their innermost essence; they speak to man from their very essence. The marked currents put him in touch with the inner world to which he belongs. He begins to experience the life of his surroundings and can let it resonate in the movement of his lotus flowers.

[ 25 ] Thus man enters the spiritual world. Once he has reached this point, he gains a new understanding of what the great teachers of humanity have spoken. Buddha's discourses and the Gospels, for example, now affect him in a new way. They flow through him with a bliss that he had not previously suspected. For the tone of their words follows the movements and rhythms that he has now formed within himself. He can now immediately know that such a man as Buddha or the gospel writers do not utter their revelations, but those which have flowed to them from the innermost essence of things. - Attention should be drawn here to a fact which can probably only be understood from the foregoing. The many repetitions in the Buddha's discourses are not quite comprehensible to people of our present level of education. For the secret disciple they become something on which he likes to rest his inner sense. For they correspond to certain rhythmic movements in the etheric body. Devotion to them in perfect inner peace also causes them to resonate with such movements. And because these movements are an image of certain world rhythms, which also represent repetition and regular return to earlier ones in certain points, man lives into the connection with the mysteries of the world by listening to the Buddha's way.

[ 26 ] In spiritual science, four qualities are spoken of which man must acquire on the so-called path of testing in order to ascend to higher knowledge. The first of these is the ability to separate truth from appearance in thought, truth from mere opinion. The second quality is the correct appreciation of truth and reality in relation to appearance. The third quality is the exercise of the six qualities already mentioned in the previous chapter: control of thought, control of action, perseverance, forbearance, faith and equanimity. The fourth is the love of inner freedom.

[ 27 ] A mere intellectual understanding of what lies in these qualities is of no use at all. They must be incorporated into the soul in such a way that they establish inner habits. Take, for example, the first quality: distinguishing the true from the apparent. Man must train himself to distinguish as a matter of course between what is insignificant and what is significant in every thing he encounters. One can only train oneself in this way if one makes repeated attempts to do so calmly and patiently in one's observations of the outside world. In the end, the gaze naturally clings to what is true, just as it was previously satisfied with what is insignificant. "Everything transient is only a parable": this truth becomes a self-evident conviction of the soul. And so it will be with the other four qualities mentioned.

[ 28 ] Now the subtle etheric body of man is actually transformed under the influence of these four habits of the soul. Through the first "distinction of the real from the apparent", the marked center is created in the head and the one in the larynx is prepared. For actual training, however, the concentration exercises mentioned above are necessary. They train and bring the four habits to maturity. - If the center is prepared in the region of the larynx, then the indicated free control of the etheric body and its covering and limiting with the retinal plexus is brought about by the correct estimation of the true as opposed to the insignificant appearance. When a person achieves such an appreciation, spiritual facts gradually become perceptible to him. However, he should not believe that he merely has to carry out actions which appear to be significant before an intellectual appreciation. The smallest action, every little movement has something meaningful in the great scheme of the world as a whole, and it is only a matter of having a consciousness of this meaning. What matters is not underestimation, but a correct assessment of the everyday activities of life. - The six virtues that make up the third quality have already been mentioned. They are connected with the formation of the twelve-petaled lotus flower in the region of the heart. As has been shown, this is indeed where the life current of the etheric body must be directed. The fourth quality: the desire for liberation, then serves to bring the etheric organ near the heart to maturity. If this quality becomes a habit of the soul, then the human being liberates himself from everything that is only connected with the faculties of his personal nature. He ceases to look at things from his special point of view. The boundaries of his narrow self, which bind him to this point of view, disappear. The secrets of the spiritual world gain access to his inner self. This is liberation. For those shackles force man to look at things and beings in a way that corresponds to his personal nature. The secret disciple must become independent, free from this personal way of looking at things.

[ 29 ] You can see from this that the precepts emanating from spiritual science have a determining effect deep within the innermost human nature. And the rules about the four qualities mentioned are such rules. They can be found in one form or another in all world views that take the spiritual world into account. The founders of such world views did not give people such rules out of a dark feeling. Rather, they did so because they were great initiates. They formed their moral rules out of knowledge. They knew how they affect the finer nature of man and wanted the followers to gradually develop this finer nature. To live according to such world views means to work on one's own spiritual perfection. And only when man does this does he serve the world as a whole. Perfecting oneself is by no means selfishness. For the imperfect human being is also an imperfect servant of humanity and the world. The more perfect you are yourself, the better you serve the whole. Here it applies: "When the rose adorns itself, it also adorns the garden."

[ 30 ] The founders of meaningful worldviews are therefore the great initiates. What comes from them flows into the human souls. And thus the whole world moves forward with humanity. The initiates have worked quite consciously on this process of development of humanity. Only then can one understand the content of their instructions if one considers that these are drawn from the realization of the deepest human nature. Great knowers were the initiates, and out of their knowledge they shaped the ideals of humanity. Man, however, comes close to these leaders when he rises to their heights in his own development.

[ 31 ] When the development of the etheric body has begun in a person in the way described above, then a completely new life opens up to him. And he must receive the enlightenments through the secret vision at the right time, which enable him to find his way in this new life. For example, through the sixteen-petaled lotus flower he sees spiritual figures of a higher world. Now he must realize how different these forms are, depending on whether they are caused by these or those objects or beings. The first thing he can turn his attention to is that he can exert a strong influence on a certain kind of these figures through his own thoughts and feelings, but not at all or only to a small extent on others. One type of figure changes immediately if the observer has the thought "this is beautiful" when he sees it, and then changes this thought to "this is useful" as he looks at it. - In particular, shapes derived from minerals or man-made objects have the peculiarity that they change with every thought or feeling that the observer brings to them. This is already the case to a lesser extent with the forms of plants, and even less so with those of animals. These forms are also mobile and full of life. But this mobility is only partly due to the influence of human thoughts and feelings, and partly to causes over which man has no influence. Within this whole world of forms, however, there appears a variety of shapes which are at first almost entirely beyond the influence of man himself. The student of the secret can convince himself that these forms do not originate from minerals or artificial objects, nor from plants or animals. In order to become completely clear, he must now consider the forms which he can know are caused by the feelings, instincts, passions and so on of other people. But even in relation to these figures he can find that his own thoughts and feelings still have some, albeit relatively little, influence. There always remains a remnant within the world of forms on which this influence is negligible. - Indeed, at the beginning of the secret disciple's path this remnant even forms a very large part of what he sees at all. He can only enlighten himself about the nature of this part if he observes himself. There he finds which forms have been brought about by himself. What he himself does, wants, desires and so on is expressed in these forms. An instinct that dwells within him, a desire that he has, an intention that he harbors, and so on: all this shows itself in such forms. Indeed, his whole character is shaped in such a world of forms. Thus man can, through his conscious thoughts and feelings, exert an influence on all forms which do not proceed from himself; but on those figures which he brings about through his own nature in the higher world, he has no more influence as soon as they have been created by him. It now also follows from what has been said that in the higher view the human inner being, his own world of instincts, desires and imagination, shows itself in outer figures just like other objects and entities. The inner world becomes a part of the outer world for higher cognition. Just as if one were surrounded on all sides by mirrors in the physical world and could thus look at one's physical form, so in a higher world the spiritual being of man confronts it as a mirror image.

[ 32 ] At this stage of development, the time has come for the secret disciple to overcome the illusion that stems from personal limitations. He can now observe what is within his personality as the outside world, just as he used to regard what affected his senses as the outside world. Thus, through experience, he gradually learns to treat himself as he used to treat the beings around him.

[ 33 ] If man's gaze were opened to these spiritual worlds before he has been sufficiently prepared for their nature, he would at first stand before the characterized painting of his own soul as before a riddle. The figures of his own instincts and passions confront him there in forms which he perceives as animal or - more rarely - as human. Although the animal forms of this world are never quite the same as those of the physical world, they do bear a distant resemblance. Inexperienced observers will probably consider them to be the same. - When one enters this world, one must now acquire a completely new way of judging. For apart from the fact that the things which actually belong to the human interior appear as the external world, they also appear as the mirror image of what they really are. If, for example, you see a number there, you must read it in reverse as a mirror image. 265, for example, really means 562 here. You see a sphere as if you were in its center. You then have to translate this inner view in the right way. But mental qualities also appear as mirror images. A wish that relates to something external appears as a figure that moves towards the wisher himself. Passions that are based in the lower nature of man can take the form of animals or similar shapes that rush towards man. In reality, these passions strive outwards; they seek the object of their satisfaction in the external world. But this outward search presents itself in the mirror image as an attack on the bearer of the passion.

[ 34 ] If the secret disciple, before he ascends to higher vision, has become acquainted with his own qualities through calm, objective self-observation, then he will also find the courage and strength to behave in the right way the moment his inner self confronts him in the outer mirror image. People who have not made themselves sufficiently acquainted with their own inner self through such self-examination will not recognize themselves in their mirror image and will then regard this as an alien reality. They also become anxious at the sight and, because they cannot bear the thing, convince themselves that the whole thing is only a fantastic product that can lead to nothing. In both cases, a person's immature arrival at a certain stage of development would be a fatal obstacle to their own higher education.

[ 35 ] It is absolutely necessary for the secret disciple to pass through the spiritual view of his own soul in order to advance to higher things. For in his own self he has that spiritual-soul which he can best judge. If he has first acquired a proficient knowledge of his personality in the physical world and first encounters the image of this personality in the higher world, then he can compare the two. He can relate the higher to something known to him and is thus able to start from a firm ground. If, on the other hand, he were confronted with so many other spiritual beings, he would not at first be able to gain any information about their nature and essence. He would soon feel the ground disappearing from under his feet. It can therefore not be emphasized often enough that the safe access to the higher world is the one that leads through the sound knowledge and assessment of one's own being.

[ 36 ] Spiritual images are therefore what man first encounters on his path to the higher world. For the reality that corresponds to these images is within him. The secret disciple must therefore be mature in order not to demand crude realities at this first stage, but to regard the images as the right thing. But within this world of images, he soon learns something new. His lower self is only present before him as a mirror painting; but in the midst of this mirror painting the true reality of the higher self appears. From the image of the lower personality, the form of the spiritual self becomes visible. And it is only from the latter that the threads are spun to other higher spiritual realities.

[ 37 ] And now the time has come to use the two-petaled lotus flower in the eye area. When it begins to move, the human being finds the possibility to connect his higher self with superior spiritual entities. The currents emanating from this lotus flower move towards higher realities in such a way that the person is fully aware of the corresponding movements. Just as light makes physical objects visible to the eye, so these currents make the spiritual beings of higher worlds visible.

[ 38 ] By immersing himself in ideas derived from spiritual science, which contain fundamental truths, the student learns to set the currents of the eye lotus flower in motion and to direct them.

[ 39 ] What is sound judgment, clear, logical training, proves itself especially at this stage of development. One only has to consider that the higher self, which has hitherto slumbered in man in a germinal, unconscious state, is born into conscious existence. Not merely in a figurative, but in a very real sense we are dealing with a birth in the spiritual world. And the born being, the higher self, must come into the world with all the necessary organs and dispositions if it is to be viable. Just as nature must ensure that a child is born with well-formed ears and eyes, so the laws of a person's self-development must ensure that his higher self comes into existence with the necessary abilities. And these laws, which determine the formation of the higher organs of the spirit itself, are none other than the healthy laws of reason and morality of the physical world. As the child matures in the womb, so the spiritual man matures in the physical self. The health of the child depends on the normal operation of the laws of nature in the womb. The health of the spiritual man depends in the same way on the laws of the ordinary mind and of reason at work in physical life. No one can give birth to a healthy higher self who does not live and think healthily in the physical world. Life according to nature and reason are the basis of all true spiritual development. - Just as the child in its mother's womb lives according to the forces of nature, which it perceives with its sensory organs after birth, so the higher self of man lives according to the laws of the spiritual world even during its physical existence. And just as the child acquires the corresponding powers out of a dark feeling of life, so can the human being with the powers of the spiritual world before his higher self is born. Yes, he must do this if the latter is to come into the world as a fully developed being. It would not be right for someone to say: I cannot accept the teachings of spiritual science until I see for myself. For without immersion in spiritual research he cannot come to true higher knowledge at all. He would then be in the same position as a child in its mother's womb that refused to use the powers that come to it through its mother and wanted to wait until it could obtain them for itself. Just as the child's germ experiences the correctness of what is presented to it in the feeling of life, so the person who cannot yet see experiences the truth of the teachings of spiritual science. There is an insight into these teachings that is based on a sense of truth and a clear, healthy, all-round judging reason, even if one does not yet see the spiritual things. One must first learn the mystical insights and prepare oneself for seeing precisely through this learning. A person who came to see before he had learned in this way would be like a child born with eyes and ears but without a brain. The whole world of color and sound would spread out before him, but he would not be able to do anything with it.

[ 40 ] What was previously comprehensible to man through his sense of truth, through understanding and reason, becomes his own experience at the stage of secret discipleship described above. He now has a direct knowledge of his higher self. And he learns to recognize that this higher self is connected with spiritual beings of a higher kind and forms a unity with them. He thus sees how the lower self originates from a higher world. And it becomes apparent to him that his higher nature outlasts the lower. He can now distinguish even his transient from his permanent nature. This means nothing other than that he learns to understand the doctrine of the incarnation of the higher self into a lower self from his own experience. It now becomes clear to him that he stands in a higher spiritual context, that his qualities, his destinies are caused by this context. He learns to recognize the law of his life, karma. He realizes that his lower self, as it currently constitutes his existence, is only one of the forms that his higher being can take. And he sees before him the possibility of working on himself from his higher self, so that he may become more and more perfect. He can now also see the great differences between people with regard to their degrees of perfection. He realizes that there are people above him who have already reached the stages that lie ahead of him. He realizes that the teachings and deeds of such people stem from inspirations from a higher world. He owes this to his own first glimpse into this higher world. What is called the "great initiates of humanity" will now begin to become a fact for him.

[ 41 ] These are the gifts which the secret disciple owes to this stage of his development: insight into the higher self, into the teaching of the incarnation or incarnation of this higher self into a lower one, into the law according to which life in the physical world is regulated according to spiritual connections - the law of karma - and finally into the existence of great initiates.

[ 42 ] It is therefore also said of a disciple who has reached this stage that doubt has completely disappeared. If he was previously able to acquire a belief based on reason and sound thinking, this belief is now replaced by full knowledge and insight that cannot be shaken by anything.

[ 43 ] The religions have given outwardly visible images of higher spiritual processes and beings in their ceremonies, sacraments and rites. Only those who have not yet seen through the depths of the great religions can misjudge them. But whoever looks into the spiritual reality itself will also understand the great significance of those outwardly visible acts. And for him, religious service itself then becomes a reflection of his dealings with the spiritually superior world.

[ 44 ] You can see in what way the secret disciple has really become a new man by reaching this stage. He can now gradually mature to direct the actual higher element of life through the currents of his etheric body and thus attain a high degree of freedom from his physical body.